Call Me Nostalgic

Old family black 'n' white photos trigger the memory, my mom sending my sister and me to the front step for lunch.

Nothing fancy: it was summer, it was just lunch so a peanut butter sandwich and a glass of milk would do. The dog waited nearby, ready to snap up errant crumbs.

So call me nostalgic for simpler times, all wrapped up in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich turned smoothie, no bread and in fact, no jelly.

No jelly? How can a smoothie taste like peanut butter and jam without jam or jelly?

The Secret Ingredient.

The "jelly" flavor in this smoothie comes from frozen blueberries! I promise, you'll be surprised how much this smoothie combo mimics childhood's favorite sandwich!

What's In a PB&J Smoothie? Pantry Ingredients!

In all my recipes and most well-written recipes, every ingredient serves a purpose. Each one matters. Each one contributes to the overall dish. It's not that an ingredient can't be substituted by something else but when choosing the substitute, it's important to understand why the original ingredient was present in the first place.

Greek yogurt is a staple in our fridge, some times small containers of full-fat yogurt for healthy desserts and snacks but usually a large tub of non-fat Greek yogurt. In a smoothie, Greek yogurt contributes creaminess, more tang and most importantly, protein.

Banana A banana adds additional creaminess but is also a natural, unprocessed sweetener. Will it add enough sweetness? That's up to you. A tablespoon of honey will add intense sweetness if that's to your taste. If you keep frozen bananas in the freezer, sure, they'll work beautifully.

Peanut Butter Tell me, how did this peanut butter fiend end up marrying someone who can suss out even a tiny taste of peanut butter? So yeah, don't be thinking that a PB&J Smoothie will push that peanut butter into the background, hidden among all the other flavors. Still, it adds richness and protein.

Blueberries Blueberries are this smoothie's super power! It's the berries that put the J in the PB&J flavors and also give the smoothie its beautiful purple color. My recipe calls for frozen blueberries, there's always an open small bag with just a few freezer-burned berries lurking in some corner of the freezer, I'm happy to use them up, no letting them go to waste. Could you use fresh blueberries? Sure. But you might want to throw in a few ice cubes at the end.

Combine all the ingredients except the honey in a blender and process until smooth. Taste and then decide whether the honey is needed.

Serve it up!

MAKE-AHEAD If need be, mix everything except the blueberries and store overnight in the refrigerator right in the blender. Just before serving, add the blueberries and process.

The Smoothie Queen's Tips ALANNA's TIPS When you put the liquid and softer ingredients into the blender first, mostly, the machine can manage its job without getting stuck. But if needed, turn off the blender and use a fork or spoon and move the contents around a bit, that'll usually loosen it back up. The other trick is to process all the non-frozen ingredients first, then drop the frozen ingredients (here, the blueberries but in other smoothies, frozen banana or ice cubes) through the lid one by one. This drops the frozen ingredients right down the center into the blades and works like a champ! Smoothies, of course, are a great way to use up random partial bags of frozen fruit. The trick, of course, after opening the bags is preventing freezer burn, that's the ice crystals that form in frozen foods and break them down, eventually causing them to deteriorate. My solution is super-simple: fold the fruit bag over itself quite tightly, pushing out as much air as possible, then "seal" the bag with a rubber band. Again, it works like a champ!

Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences. Quick Suppers are Kitchen Parade favorites and feature recipes easy on the budget, the clock, the waistline and the dishwasher. Do you have a favorite recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail via recipes@kitchen-parade.com. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. Never miss a recipe! If you like this recipe, sign up for a free e-mail subscription. If you like Kitchen Parade, you're sure to like my food blog about vegetable recipes, too, A Veggie Venture. If you make this recipe, I'd love to know your results! Just leave a comment below.

Alanna Kellogg

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Thank you for taking a moment to write! I read each and every comment, for each and every recipe. If you have a specific question, it's nearly always answered quick-quick. But I also love hearing your reactions, your curiosity, even your concerns! When you've made a recipe, I especially love to know how it turned out, what variations you made, what you'll do differently the next time. ~ Alanna